Kathy Pollard gives speech to students on Liberal Democrat policies

2.14.38pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 28th Apr 2005

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Kathy Pollard gave a speech to students and teachers at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, on Liberal Democrat policies, including scrapping tuition and top-up fees, crime, climate change and the need to tackle poverty worldwide.

In her speech, Mrs Pollard said, "In Scotland, where we run the Parliament jointly with Labour, Liberal Democrats have successfully scrapped tuition fees. We want university to be open to all students, not just the well off. We are also opposing Labour plans in England to charge for school transport, which would cost the average family an extra £900 a year, not to mention increasing congestion and pollution on the roads. In our 2001 manifesto for Suffolk we promised to bring in discounted travel for young people - we have now fulfilled that commitment, with under 20s getting half price travel with the new Xcape card."

On climate change, Kathy said, "Liberal Democrats want to tackle climate change head on. Civil aviation in the UK contributes 12% to carbon dioxide emissions. This is why my colleagues and I are opposing the Stansted expansion, the need for which has not been adequately researched by the Labour government. We also want 20% of our energy to come from renewable energy sources by 2020."

Kathy also commented, "It is very easy at election time to focus in on domestic issues and forget about the wider world. Liberal Democrats want to break down the barriers that prevent the poorest countries in the world selling their goods to us on fair terms and promote trade and investment in developing countries."

One of the Sixth-Form students, Lucas Bennett told us, "Tuition fees is a very relevant issue for the body of students, but Kathy's presentation also appealed to the us on many other levels when she explained the key policies proposed throughout the Liberal Democrat manifesto. When she spoke on crime, I was pleased to see that the Liberal Democrats will fight for 10,000 more police and was surprised to hear that the Conservatives cut money to police when they were in power, and that Labour have also cut funding to Suffolk police."

Another of the students, Fergus Carnade said, "Kathy clearly outlined the benefits of the Liberal Democrats to both Suffolk and the nation. Her policies certainly make sense - convincing to both students and sceptical teachers!"